A significant amount of bromate might be produced as a disinfection by-product (DBP) and introduced into the aquatic ecosystem as a result of the wide-spread use of ozonation for water treatment. Understanding the fate of this toxic species in nature becomes highly important to evaluate the potential impact of bromate. In this work, the reduction reaction of bromate was studied in ice phase. The results showed that the reduction of bromate is significantly enhanced in ice especially in the presence of humic substances (humic and fulvic acids) and other organic electron donors having carboxyl, hydroxyl, and aldehyde functional groups. This reduction process produced hypobromite and bromide as the final product. However, the bromate reduction in the aqueous phase was negligible. This observed enhancement of bromate reduction in the ice phase is likely due to the freeze concentration of bromates and various electron donors in liquid-like ice grain boundary region. The present results demonstrated the vital role of humic substances and other organic electron donors towards the reduction of bromate in icy environment. These results provide evidence that the freeze-thaw cycle of nature would help transform carcinogenic bromate into less toxic species like bromide and this proposed process might be important in the polar environment.

Accelerated bromate reduction in Ice phase

251st National Meeting (2016)

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